Have You Shopped at Walmart?

[Dabs]

WalMart is a symptom, not the disease.

I also do not get some American's obsession with that company.

Bigger and bigger retailing outlets has been the wave of the future for a century.

Walmart is merely the last incarnation of that development.

It is the Sears Robuck of this this generation.

And Sears had a catalog they used to send to you thru the mail. At least with that, if you ran out of asswipe, you could resort to the Sears catalog

 

[midcan5]

I would never shop in Walmart, well maybe not never, there are two possible ways I could shop there: one, if I fell on my head and suddenly became so self centered that I no longer considered the way Walmart treats my fellow Americans, and second, if Walmart started treating my fellow Americans well. A nephew works there and the management of Walmart constitutes the worst there is in people. But in America money is gawd, so most worship that gawd regardless to what it does to people and society.

Repost: I have never stepped inside a walmart probably never will. Walmart is a part of the decline of the American middle class, their wages and destruction of small business contributed greatly to the separation of wealth in our nation. They are also one of the major contributors to China as they serve as a major distributor and employer. While this is not necessarily bad, their actions in America hardly make them good citizens. Support Americans too. But I doubt you will stop the walmart mentality as people look for bargains. I know people who are in the top 1% of wage earners who shop there, so given that Americans and most humans make decisions based on unknown things inside their head, change is hard.

Walmart Watch
WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price
Value and Values at Wal-Mart -- Behind That Implacable Smiley Face
As Union Nears Win, Wal-Mart Closes Store
Majority Says Wal-Mart Bad for America: Poll
Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch - brought to you by Good Jobs First
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Wal-Mart-Effect-Powerful-Works---Transforming/dp/0143038788/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy (9780143038788): Charles Fishman: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMYZwL8sPA]‪WalMart-The High Cost of Low Price PART 1‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hftb_DVuelo]‪Wal Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price- Full Length Documentary‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[JohnA]

I worked there for 3 years in my younger teenage days, so yes, I'd say I have shopped there before.

I don't anymore, though. Walmart stores are just plain disgusting in every respect, and it gets worse by the day. Filthy, noisy, crowded, messy. There are always long-ass lines at the checkouts because the company is too fucking greedy to hire enough cashiers to keep up with the number of customers. The company has become very aware that people shop there because they have to, and so they quickly stopped giving a fuck about those marginal annoyances like CUSTOMER SERVICE and HOSPITALITY.

When I was there, the store manager was constantly bitching at us over 2 hours of overtime, and yet that motherfucker made $120,000 a year plus fat bonuses to sit on his ass in his office and bitch at us over 2 hours of overtime.

Walmart represents the worst side of capitalism, and it's really quite pathetic.

One day you may be the store manager sitting on his ass earning $120.000 and then you will sing a differant tune .

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I truly wish that Wal-Mart shoppers could see what goes on behind the doors to bring them the products that they see on the shelf.

There is absolutely NO argument that Wal-Mart:

1) Has put a very large number of businesses - out of business. And I don't mean local businesses - I mean people who they do business with.
2) Wal-Mart drives down profits of every company that is forced to do business with them.
3) Wal-Mart stifles product advancement and product improvements by picking winners and losers (of who gets on the shelf) based on price alone.
4) Wal-Mart categorically encourages their vendors to be on a constant path of finding ways to lower the cost of manufacturing their products. In fact Wal-Mart makes iron-clad contracts with vendors forcing them to lower the price they sell to Wal-Mart in a set period of time or they will lose the contract - which has forced many a manufacturer to outsource labor and assembly overseas.
5) Wal-Mart creates low paying jobs while reducing higher paid jobs.

 

[Wonky Pundit]

WalMart is a symptom, not the disease.

I also do not get some American's obsession with that company.

Bigger and bigger retailing outlets has been the wave of the future for a century.

Walmart is merely the last incarnation of that development.

It is the Sears Robuck of this this generation.

And Sears had a catalog they used to send to you thru the mail. At least with that, if you ran out of asswipe, you could resort to the Sears catalog

You can still shop on sears.com, of course...

 

[lilbug]

I have nothing against Walmart. I've shopped there. The way of the mom and pop stores was bound to fade out in time and this does not rest solely on Walmart. There was a time for mom and pop's, but not anymore. I'm glad they have been able to ward off unions. Unions, in their inception were a good idea, folks with good intentions, but in recent times they have proven their true agendas.

Walmart brought more variety, competitive prices and accessibility to goods, and they are a major employer. While there may be some poor managers, you cannot fault the entire Walmart corporation for that and that's true about any chain of retailers and well....anywhere. Employees are free to leave or file a grievance. As far as the long lines, I see that mostly during the holidays, which is to be expected. I have also seen some Walmart stores have installed checkout aisles where the customer is free to use their ATM card without the assistance of a cashier. I almost never see anyone availing themselves to them to avoid long lines. I have used them and had no issue with it, checked out in a snap. Does the quality of their product meet the need/requirement to every consumer, no, but that's also is true with other retailers, but for the most part they provide quality products at fair and competitive prices for folks who cannot afford to shop Saks.

 

[Wonky Pundit]

I have nothing against Walmart. ... I'm glad they have been able to ward off unions. Unions, in their inception were a good idea, folks with good intentions, but in recent times they have proven their true agendas.

Don't be taken in by the spin machine propaganda that all unions are evil. The reasons for forming and maintaining labor unions are no different now than they were during the industrial revolution.

Do many union leaders abuse their power? Absolutely. Do many corporations abuse their power? I'm sure you get the idea.

 

[lilbug]

I have nothing against Walmart. ... I'm glad they have been able to ward off unions. Unions, in their inception were a good idea, folks with good intentions, but in recent times they have proven their true agendas.

Don't be taken in by the spin machine propaganda that all unions are evil. The reasons for forming and maintaining labor unions are no different now than they were during the industrial revolution.

Do many union leaders abuse their power? Absolutely. Do many corporations abuse their power? I'm sure you get the idea.

I'll concede not all unions are evil, but I saw recently what they are capable of, heard from the mouths of their leaders their agenda, so I don't blame Walmart, anyone else for their skepticism.

 

[Oddball]

Why on earth would anyone give a shit who shops where?

Because Wal-Mart hate is a liberoidal status symbol....It gives them an opportunity to write lengthy bloviating posts, about how much smarter they are than the hick hayseed hoi polloy, who are too ignint to know that shopping at Wally World is making them slaves to the Chinese and supporters of ruthless management types in black capes and stovepipe hats.

 

[CitizenPained]

GAP, Banana Republic, NIKE, Target, Best Buy...come on. Even Whole Foods sells out the local farmer!

There's more eebil in life than just Wal-Mart.

I just think the place is trashy and cheap.

 

[Wonky Pundit]

I have nothing against Walmart. ... I'm glad they have been able to ward off unions. Unions, in their inception were a good idea, folks with good intentions, but in recent times they have proven their true agendas.

Don't be taken in by the spin machine propaganda that all unions are evil. The reasons for forming and maintaining labor unions are no different now than they were during the industrial revolution.

Do many union leaders abuse their power? Absolutely. Do many corporations abuse their power? I'm sure you get the idea.

I'll concede not all unions are evil, but I saw recently what they are capable of, heard from the mouths of their leaders their agenda, so I don't blame Walmart, anyone else for their skepticism.

Skepticism of both sides is totally appropriate. Both are focused on how much advantage they can take of the other.

 

[Dude111]

The reason being, Wal-Mart doesn't want it's employees to get hurt in any way, and also they want to protect the customers, who might get injured if a scuffle or attack took place.

I understand that but if they DO STOP A SHOPLIFTING ATTEMPT with no injury,etc..... THEY SHOULD NOT BE FIRED FOR PROTECTING THIER STORE!!

Doesnt make sense to me....

 

[mudwhistle]

I'll starve before I step foot in one of those shitholes.

I don't usually buy groceries there......however I love their cupcakes. Also, they have $5 DVDs which is a bargain.

I think you should walk into one once. It's not such a shithole.

We're getting a Publix pretty soon so Walmart is gonna have some competition.

 

[mudwhistle]

WalMart is a symptom, not the disease.

I also do not get some American's obsession with that company.

Bigger and bigger retailing outlets has been the wave of the future for a century.

Walmart is merely the last incarnation of that development.

It is the Sears Robuck of this this generation.

And Sears had a catalog they used to send to you thru the mail. At least with that, if you ran out of asswipe, you could resort to the Sears catalog

Sears is a shithole.

 

[CitizenPained]

Is it un-PC to say you don't like the company of fellow shoppers at Wal-Mart?

Also, Whole Paycheck is against unions as well.

 

[JohnA]

The reason being, Wal-Mart doesn't want it's employees to get hurt in any way, and also they want to protect the customers, who might get injured if a scuffle or attack took place.

I understand that but if they DO STOP A SHOPLIFTING ATTEMPT with no injury,etc..... THEY SHOULD NOT BE FIRED FOR PROTECTING THIER STORE!!

Doesnt make sense to me....

its all about legal issues to.
security are trained to do that job cashiers /assistants arnt the threat of termination discourages employers from acting like heros and making a situation worse, it protects the company against employers who feel like they should be doing a job that they are not qualified for .
the company could get sued if the cashier /put thier hands on a innocent shopper ..

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

I've shopped at Walmart many times. I was glad it was there. Convenient, good prices, what else do you want?

Be nice if they cleared the aisles of all the sales racks so you could actually walk through the store - and it would also be nice if they didn't treat you like a criminal when you walk out the door with the stuff you just bought from them with your hard earned money - and most of the clothing they sell is total crap, meant to rip off the poor. Its priced cheaper than competitors but its of such low quality it doesn't last very long and in the end is more expensive.

 

[editec]

WalMart is a symptom, not the disease.

I also do not get some American's obsession with that company.

Bigger and bigger retailing outlets has been the wave of the future for a century.

Walmart is merely the last incarnation of that development.

It is the Sears Robuck of this this generation.

And Sears had a catalog they used to send to you thru the mail. At least with that, if you ran out of asswipe, you could resort to the Sears catalog

You can still shop on sears.com, of course...

Yes.

but I remember when Sears was the largest reetailer in the world.

It was larger than its three largest competitors combined.

But a new business model (discount superstores) took over the retail business model and Sears was left with a lot of real estate and a more expensive workforce.

I do not doubt that WalMart accelerates the flow of cash from the USA to third world nations, but I do NOT blame WALMART for that.

I blame the government which allowed that to happen.

And FWIW, if you go to your local stores, they are selling the SAME STUFF made in lands other than the USA.

Once we opened the FREE TRADE FLOODGATE, every business ended up having no choice but to sell what was available, and American manufacuturers really pretty much had NO CHOICE but to migrate offshore.

If they failed to take advantage of the cheaper labor cost offshore, their competitors ate them alive.

Our "Leaders" created this economic mess one stupid free trade policy after the other, folks.

Right now I believe Obama is going to sign three more "FREE TRADE" agreements... with South Korea, Brazil and ... (hmmmm, not sure I remember) Portugal?

Will these really be a good thing for americans?

Not really sure...the devil is in the details and the details are often based on rather dubious economic projections that make them seem like a good idea, only those projections are largely nonsense.

The U.S. has held a trade deficit starting late in the 1960s. Its trade deficit has been increasing at a large rate since 1997 [40] (See chart) and increased by 49.8 billion dollars between 2005 and 2006, setting a record high of 817.3 billion dollars, up from 767.5 billion dollars the previous year.[41]
The graph indicates that, as Frédéric Bastiat predicted, the deficit slackened during recessions and grew during periods of expansion. Also of note, many economists calculate trade deficits and/or current account deficits as a percentage of GDP. The US last had a trade surplus in 1975.[42] Every year there has been a major reduction in economic growth, it is followed by a reduction in the US trade deficit.[37]

source

Of course, it's not just the deficeit that is pernicious. It's the JOB LOSSES that are most detrimental to this society.

Job losses don't just mean that other people are poorer, job losses means that the entire society is poorer.

INCLUDING the society's governments which have taken on debts based on the prospects of the previous, happier, more productive, wealthier society it once was.

Most Ameircan would be happy to work for third world wages if we also had third worlder debt obligations.

But we don't.

We are dealing with first world debt obligations, and paying first world prices, even as our incomes are dwindling down to the third world's pay scales.

Unless, of course, we are working for Insiders who CAN take advantage of the new international economy.

Much of the American popilation is not so slowly becoming much like the serfs of pre-revolutionay Russia.

Capital is freed of national borders and national obligations, but the working class is not and their fate is lied to the land in which the were born.